Zoo Portrait : Gorou the sea otter

Sea otters are one of the smallest marine mammal species and have the thickest fur of any mammal. They have to rely on this waterproof fur to stay warm because they don’t have thick layers of fat like other cold-water mammals. They are capable of living their entire lives without ever having to set foot on dry land; their nostrils and ears can close, and they can sleep while floating on the water because of their lung capacity, which is 2.5 times that of other similar-sized mammals. This allows them to hold their breath under water for up to 5 minutes.

Sea otters hold hands while sleeping on the water or they wrap themselves in seaweed to keep them from drifting apart.

About Yago, the artist:

Yago Partal (b. 1982, Barcelona) lives and works in Barcelona.

He creates his anthropomorphic images through a painstaking combination of photography, illustration and collage. His intention (in humanising animals) is to make us look again, to see them as "one of us" and not something to be exploited or endangered.

Yago has returned to university to study his passion, zoology. The sales from the Zoo Portraits have enabled him to support a number of wildlife charities over the years, and to work with children to educate the next generation about animal conservation.

Yago Partal is represented by Subject Matter Art, an online fine art gallery based in London. For any questions about his work, please contact kitty@subjectmatterart.com.

This artwork is:

Limited edition I Signed by the artist I Printed on archival inks and paper